Cyberstalking accusation is linked to triple-murder case

Friday

Jun 6, 2014 at 6:16 PM

This week marks one year since Jerry Bynes, Josue Santiago and Benjamin Howard were gunned down outside AJ's bar in Ocala.

By April WarrenStaff writer

This week marks one year since Jerry Bynes, Josue Santiago and Benjamin Howard were gunned down outside AJ's bar in Ocala.Earlier this week a memorial ceremony was held at Highlands Memorial Park cemetery to remember the three men, and another ceremony for Howard, a veteran, is planned for today at the National Cemetery in Bushnell.Since the deaths, Andrew J. Lobban has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and has passed the last 370 days inside the Marion County Jail awaiting trial. Lobban told police Santiago was the intended target and he was upset with him for videotaping a prank that was played on him at a local gun range. Lobban said the other two "were killed by accident."The State Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty. Lobban has pleaded not guilty and waived his right to speedy trial. He is expected in court July 30 for a special status conference.The case also has penetrated other areas of the legal landscape.In December, Maria Santiago, serving as personal representative of her son's estate, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against several businesses, including AJ's and the Ocala Entertainment Complex. At the time of the shootings, both were owned and operated by members of the Tillander family. Both businesses have since closed.Santiago, 25, Bynes, 20, Howard, 23, and Lobban, now 32, worked together at the Ocala Entertainment Complex as bouncers.In the lawsuit, still pending in circuit court, Santiago's attorney alleges the businesses failed to provide adequate security and a safe working environment.While the criminal prosecution and the civil suit play out, another offshoot of the case has appeared on a different docket at the courthouse.In late March, former School Board member Sue Mosley sought an injunction for protection against a member of the Tillander family whom she accused of cyberstalking. While a temporary petition was granted, a permanent injunction was later denied by a judge.In her sworn petition, filed with the court, Mosley accused Matthew Tillander of sending her harassing Facebook messages after the shootings. She also accused him of being somehow involved in the killings as an accessory.Attorney Chris Polak represented Tillander in the injunction case. "They (Mosley's accusations) were extremely false and prejudicial about my client, Mr. Tillander, and there was no basis for them," Polak said on Thursday.Polak called the shootings a "terrible incident" and stated Tillander was at the scene that night and will have to live with that emotional trauma.Circuit Judge David Eddy held a hearing in the injunction case on April 23. The Star-Banner has obtained an official video of the hearing from the courthouse.During the hearing Tillander testified that he was 10 feet away from the victims at the time they were gunned down. He also testified during the grand jury proceeding in the criminal case.Tillander stated the men worked for him at the Ocala Entertainment Complex and described Santiago as his best friend.In her injunction petition, Mosley wrote that she was close with all three victims and described Santiago as "like a son to me."She also described aiding Maria Santiago in finding an attorney in the wrongful death case.While Mosley said she has been friends with Robert Tillander, she's had no real dealings with his son, Matthew.Nevertheless, "hours after the funeral of Josue, Matthew Tillander son of Robert (Tillander) messages me on Facebook calling me names harassing me and warning me, ‘Wait til I see you out,' " Mosley wrote in her petition.She also accused Tillander of calling her a derogatory name in a Facebook message.During the hearing, Tillander told the court that, soon after the killings, he heard upsetting news."I was working in, uh, my father's club at the time, Ocala Entertainment Complex, and it's numerous that people would come up to me and say that Sue Mosley's going around telling people that you are the reason why these three victims got murdered," he said during the injunction hearing.He said the allegations were absolutely false and then proceeded to contact Mosley via Facebook. But he said he never intended to frighten her.In March, Mosley contacted two people via Facebook and asked whether they would be willing to speak with attorneys involved in the wrongful death lawsuit.Soon after, she alleges, she received another message from Matthew Tillander asking, "U need me to talk to your lawyer too?"That message concluded with Tillander calling Mosley a crude name. The Star-Banner is not publishing that word.On Thursday, Polak said his client acknowledged his Facebook responses were inappropriate. He said Tillander heard Mosley was asking people to speak to attorneys involved in the case, and he merely wanted to know whether Mosley would like him to speak with them, as well."It was pretty much all out of anger," Tillander said in court. "I was very upset and at the moment, I have somebody going around town telling people that I am the reason why these three kids got murdered and it's absolutely not true and it was the wrong word, the vocabulary, I shouldn't have used that."Mosley alleges a third such incident occurred the day before she filed her petition for the injunction.In that instance, Tillander messaged her on Facebook, telling her that if she captured a screen shot of his message, authorities wouldn't intervene.Mosley took that to be a reference to media coverage of Tillander's Jan. 18 traffic stop.Tillander was pulled over by a Marion County Sheriff's deputy for speeding. Although the deputy smelled alcohol, Tillander was ultimately allowed to leave the scene after receiving a warning for speeding.Critics said he got a break because his father supports the sheriff. An internal investigation found that sheriff's Maj. Tommy Bibb violated the department's code of conduct by interfering, though Bibb said he never intended to influence the outcome of the traffic stop.In court, Tillander said he was not referring to the articles about his traffic stop. Rather, he was referencing articles he wrote online, though in court he could not recall the content of those articles.In her petition, Mosley told the judge she was frightened and asked whether Tillander's actions would be considered witness tampering.Before seeking the injunction, Mosley met with two members of the Ocala Police Department.In an incident report, Officer G.L. Uptagraft detailed a similar story from Mosley."Upon review of the messages, I did not see any language which could be construed as a direct threat in violation of Florida state statutes," the officer wrote on March 14. "However, at Mosley's request I documented these events so that she could seek an emergency injunction in reference to this matter."At the end of the April 23 hearing Eddy denied the injunction."The text messages are rude, arrogant, obscene, but there is no specific direct or indirect threat in these messages," he said. "Accordingly, I'm entering an order denying the petition for injunction for protection against stalking."But he allowed Mosley the opportunity to file another motion in the future if necessary.Reached via phone on Thursday, Mosley stated that, as of right now, she has received no more messages from Tillander.Contact April Warren at 867-4065 or april.warren@ocala.com.